Configuring the Product Family feature

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You can enable the Product Family feature in the Persona-based UI through this topic.

Before you begin

You have completed the Step 1 and Step 2 of the Post-installation setup topic. The mdmce-env.zip data model file import automatically introduces the following basic Product Family feature artifacts in the Persona-based UI.
  • Product Family Hierarchy - Data Explorer page
  • SYS_Product Family Configuration LookUp table - Lookup table console page
  • Variant Management Report - Report console page
  • SYS_Product_Family_Verification report - Report console page
For more information, see Product Family feature key concepts.

Procedure

To configure Product Family feature, proceed as follows.
  1. Add Product Family Hierarchy as the secondary hierarchy to the catalog.
    1. Go to the Design manager > Catalogs page.
    2. Click the catalog to which you want to add Product Family Hierarchy as the secondary hierarchy.
    3. In the Catalog console - <catalog name> page, go to Secondary hierarchy field, click to add a secondary hierarchy.
    4. Select Product Family Hierarchy from the drop-down list, and click Save.
    Note: In the IBM Product Master you can create product families till 3 levels to ensure a structured and manageable hierarchy.
    After you complete the mapping, the Hierarchy list in the Data explorer page also displays Product Family Hierarchy. You can see the following default categories and display names for the Product Family Hierarchy.
    Variant level Display name
    PFH_Product Product
    PFH_Variant Variant
    PFH_SubVariant SubVariant
    PFH_SubVariant2 SubVariant2
    Note: You can rename these default category names.
  2. Add an Entry reference attribute to the secondary spec of the category.
    Go to the Data model manager > Spec console and Attribute collection > Secondary tab. Open this secondary spec, and in the Attribute structure and details section, specify the following.
    1. Specify Entry Reference in the Attribute type field.
    2. Create attribute collections with common attributes or differentiators to be inherited by the Variants as follows.
      • Attribute Collection for Variant - Common attributes to be inherited from the Base item.
      • Attribute Collection for SubVariant - Entry Reference attribute for Variant and first level differentiator attribute.
      • Attribute Collection for SubVariant2 - Entry Reference attribute for SubVariant and second level differentiator attribute.
    3. Specify the attribute collection created in the Step 2b in the Referenced Attribute field.
    4. You can use 3 attributes as differentiators with every level having a unique differentiator.
    If there is no secondary spec is mapped to the category, then first create a secondary spec, then add an Entry Reference attribute to this secondary spec, and then map this secondary spec to the category.
    Note: You should add Entry Reference attribute only to a secondary spec.
  3. Add the Product Family Type attribute to the primary spec of the catalog.
    Go to the Data model manager > Spec console and Attribute collection > Primary tab. Open this primary spec and in the Attribute structure and details section, specify the following.
    • Specify Product Family Type in the Name field under the Attribute properties section.
    • Specify the following values in the Enumeration value field under the Attribute type properties section. Click and specify Base, Variant, and Simple in the Add string enumeration details pop-up window.
  4. Configure SYS_Product Family Configuration LookUp table for the catalog.
    Go to the Design manager > Lookups > SYS_Product Family Configuration LookUp table. Specify the differentiators for the Variants.
    Example
    Base product category Primary Hierarchy/T shirts
    Catalog name Product catalog
    Level 1 Differentiator Product Spec/Size
    Level 2 Differentiator Product Spec/Color
    Level 3 Differentiator Product Spec/Material
  5. Optional: You can manually run the SYS_Product_Family_Verification report. This report executes SYS_Product_Family_Verification script and is responsible to check and verify whether all the Product Family configuration is done correctly.

    Go to the Job manager > Job console > Report jobs > SYS_Product_Family_Verification report.  

  6. Collaboration area To use Product Family feature, you need to create a collaboration area with the following flag.

    Go to the Design manager > Collaboration areas > Create collab and select Is product family? check box. Specify the Workflow and Container fields as the Catalog on which you are configuring Product Family.

Results

After you successfully configure the Product Family feature, you can perform following additional tasks through these pages.

Summary for complex table
Task Page
Create a Base item Data explorer, Multi-edit page, Single-edit page
Create a Variant item Data explorer, Multi-edit page, Single-edit page, Import feature
Create a Simple item Data explorer, Single-edit page
Check out the whole product family including the Variants and the Base item to a specific Product Family collaboration area. Data explorer, Multi-edit page, Single-edit page, Search page, Free text search page
Access the Variants tab Single-edit page